SEATTLE_Mike Leake had been on a roll.
In four straight starts, the Seattle Mariners starter had gone at least seven innings, while shutting down division leaders Houston and Minnesota, and two other decent teams, Oakland and the Los Angeles Angels.
You might assume that he would carve up the Baltimore Orioles, the worst team in the major leagues. But you know what they say about assumptions.
Leake was knocked around in the first inning Friday night, then knocked out in the sixth, and yet this being the Baltimore Orioles, it didn't matter.
The Mariners hitters feasted on one pitcher after another and Seattle won 10-9 at T-Mobile Park for its first three-game winning streak since April 18-20.
It certainly didn't look like it would be a Mariners win in the opening minutes. The Orioles scored three runs five hitters into the game, as many runs as Leake had allowed in any of his previous four starts.
That might have been proved fatal against good teams, but not against Sean Gilmartin, making his first big-league appearance of the season, and against a team that has now lost 10 straight games.
The Mariners scored a run in the bottom half of the inning, and that was just an appetizer for what was to come. Dylan Moore homered in a two-run second and Kyle Seager ended Gilmartin's night with one out in the third inning with a two-run homer to give the Mariners a 5-3 lead.
Gilmartin allowed five runs in 2 1/3 innings and several of the seven outs he recorded were hard-hit balls.
Branden Kline fared no better, allowing three runs before he could get the final two outs of the third inning. At which point, the Mariners led 8-3 and Mallex Smith and J.P. Crawford, the top two hitters in the lineup, had hits in each of the first three innings.
That lead grew to 10-3, and all those runs proved very valuable when Leake, who cruised through the second through fifth innings, inexplicably fell apart in the sixth inning when the Orioles had six base hits off him and scored five runs to make it 10-8.
An error by shortstop Crawford didn't help. He let what looked like a sure double-play ball go through his legs. Had the Mariners gotten the double play, the inning would have ended with the score 10-6. Instead, it continued and after another hit, Cory Gearrin came in to get the final two outs of the inning.
Leake allowed eight runs _ seven earned _ on 11 hits. He struck out two and walked none.
The Mariners could greatly benefit if Leake quickly regains his good form with the July 31 trading deadline looming.
Leake, 31, clearly is not in the Mariners' long-term plans. He is in the fourth-year of a five-year, $80 million deal he signed with the St. Louis Cardinals. The Mariners are paying him $11 million a year and the Cardinals are paying the rest.
By pitching well in the next few weeks, he could be helping the Mariners short term and long term.
It wasn't his night Friday, but he was a winner nonetheless, thanks to the M's bats and some timely relief from Austin Adams. He got a double play to end the top of the seventh inning, stranding the potential tying and go-ahead runs on base with the M's up 10-9.
Adams then pitched a perfect eighth and Roenis Elias closed it in the ninth for his ninth save.
Smith had the best night, reaching base five times (3 for 3, two walks) and scoring four runs. Crawford was on base four times. But there was good production throughout the lineup, and the Mariners, while getting a scare, were celebrating in the end.
